1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a baghouse installation having a plurality of tubular filter bags and in particular to an apparatus for tensioning the filter bags within the baghouse.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the typical baghouse installation for cleaning boiler flue gases, a plurality of tubular filter bags are suspended from a grating extending across the upper interior of the baghouse, and the lower ends of the bags are secured to an apertured tubesheet extending across the baghouse beneath the bags so that as the dirty gases enter the baghouse they flow into the interior of each of the filter bags whereafter they filter through the bags and ultimately flow out of the baghouse.
In installations of this type, the filter bags are generally secured in tension to prevent chafing between the adjacent filter bags as well as to prevent collapse of the bags during reverse-flow operations utilized to clean the bags. However, the procedures which have been used in the past to tension the filter bags have been relatively cumbersome and labor intensive. For example, in a typical baghouse having 200-400 filterbags, each of which is about a foot in diameter and 30 feet long, it has usually required two or more workmen to install the bags in the baghouse. More particularly, after securing the bottom of each of the bags to the tube-sheet, the tops of the bags are secured to the grating, one at a time, by one of the workmen holding the bag in tension, usually at a tension in the range of 75-100 lbs., while the others measure the tension in the bag and secure it to the grating via a supporting strap or chain affixed to the top of the bag. When measuring the tension in one of the bags, the practice has been for the workmen to secure a spring scale or the like to the roof of the baghouse so that the tension can be measured by suspending the bag from the scale and then securing it to the grating when the desired tension is obtained. Thereafter, the tension in the remaining bags is approximated by securing those bags to the grating at the same distance from the grating as the first bag.